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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Historic agreement gives tribe foster care control

Jurisdiction
over child welfare to transfer from state to Tlingit and Haida Central Council

When children are taken out of their
homes due to neglect or abuse, they’re under the responsibility and
jurisdiction of the State Office of Children’s Services.

Now, through an agreement signed
Wednesday night at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall between the State of Alaska
and Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the
Central Council will be able to take over child welfare cases of tribal
children.

Instead of going through the state court system, these cases will go through
the tribal court system. Instead of state workers overseeing the cases, tribal
case managers will work with families. Instead of the state licensing the
foster homes, Central Council will recruit and license tribal foster homes and
be reimbursed by the state for the cost of foster care placement.

“This truly is a government-to-government agreement that recognizes that tribes
are uniquely and supremely and ultimately qualified to be able to meet the
needs of tribal families,” said Valerie Davidson, Department of Health and
Social Services Commissioner. “That’s not new. And quite frankly — if I may as
an Alaska Native — we have known that for thousands of years.”

Barbara Dude is a child welfare
specialist with Central Council’s Tribal Family & Youth Services. She said
parents trying to get their children back will have a better working
relationship with a tribal entity than with the state, and be more successful
at reunification.

“Families are just more willing to
work with us because we’re the tribal workers. They’re more willing to sit down
with us and help their case plans,” Dude said.

She also noted that tribal court “is just a friendlier environment.”

President Richard Peterson said Central Council has been working toward the
agreement for 16 years and thanked the Office of Children’s Services for
working collaboratively. He said Alaska Native families continue to work
through issues stemming from historical trauma and the agreement “will begin
putting our families back together.”

Central Council will start by taking just a few Juneau cases from the state.
Right now, 24 Tlingit and Haida children are in foster homes, the majority of
which are in Juneau, according to the Office of Children’s Services.

Francine Eddy Jones, director of Central Council’s Tribal Family & Youth
Services, said it’s important to be methodical and cautious.

“It’s a process of learning together
— Office of Children’s Services, the tribe, the state court and tribal court —
to figure out what that handoff looks like,” she said.

Jones said Central Council hopes to provide a lot of support and encouragement
to families who’ve had children taken away and tribal foster families, many of
whom don’t trust the state.

“It really means taking care of our
own,” Jones said. “It means being responsible and respectful and honoring them
with the values of the tribe, making sure we’re holding up those families
whatever that situation is for why their children are removed, embrace them and
provide them the support and services they need to get back on their feet, and
hopefully be reunited with their children. That’s our commitment.”

This is only the second such agreement between the state and a tribe. The first
was with the Tanana Chiefs Conference in 2013.

Top Photo: After signing the agreement,
Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson takes a
picture of Central Council President Richard Peterson doing the same. The
signing ceremony took place at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Wednesday
night.

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Indian Country is under attack. Native tribes and people are fighting hard for justice. There is need for legal assistance across Indian Country, and NARF is doing as much as we can. With your help, we have fought for 48 years and we continue to fight.

It is hard to understand the extent of the attacks on Indian Country. We are sending a short series of emails this month with a few examples of attacks that are happening across Indian Country and how we are standing firm for justice.

Today, we look at recent effort to undo laws put in place to protect Native American children and families. All children deserve to be raised by loving families and communities. In the 1970s, Congress realized that state agencies and courts were disproportionately removing American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families. Often these devastating removals were due to an inability or unwillingness to understand Native cultures, where family is defined broadly and raising children is a shared responsibility. To stop these destructive practices, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

After forty years, ICWA has proven to be largely successful and many states have passed their own ICWAs. This success, however, is now being challenged by large, well-financed opponents who are actively and aggressively seeking to undermine ICWA’s protections for Native children. We are seeing lawsuits across the United States that challenge ICWA’s protections. NARF is working with partners to defend the rights of Native children and families.

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To Veronica Brown

Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.

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The Network is open to all Indigenous and Foster Care Survivors any time.

ADOPTION TRUTH

As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.

This has happened to many, many Native children! We must protect ICWA and enforce it so that it stops! Even non-Native families that are not racist cannot provide a Native child with cultural knowledge and belonging. Only their tribes can do that. #ProudtoProtectICWAhttps://t.co/oA1e5kiK4k

A4: Twenty-one states filed an amicus brief in this case in support of #ICWA. These states, which are home to over 70 percent of tribal nations, know that ICWA helps them better serve Native children and families.#ProudtoProtectICWA

TWO WORLDS Book 1 (second edition)

Two Worlds anthology (Vol. 1)

“…sometimes shocking, often an emotional read…this book is for individuals interested in the culture and history of the Native American Indian, but also on the reading lists of universities offering ethnic/culture/Native studies.”

“Well-researched and obviously a subject close to the heart of the authors/compilers, I found the extent of what can only be described as ‘child-snatching’ from the Native Americans quite staggering. It’s not something I was aware of before…”

“The individual pieces are open and honest and give a good insight into the turmoil of dislocation from family and tribe… I think it does have value and a story to tell. I was affected by the stories I read, and amazed by the facts presented…. because it is saying something new, interesting and often astonishing.”

Did you know?

Good words

I agree with you on the caring of “orphans” – true orphans, not “paper orphans” as Kathryn Joyce describes in her book, The Child Catchers. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the orphan’s original identity and family connection and heritage must remain intact and available to him or her forever. This business of adoption – and I do mean the multi-billion-dollar, unregulated business of adoption – of wiping out the child’s original identity, falsifying birth records with the adopters’ names, altering facts such as place of birth, severing familial kinship, must stop … Immediately. And the outrageous injustices foisted upon adoptees and their families for the past 100 years must be addressed and righted. We are faced today with six to seven million people who were basically legally kidnapped, sold to the highest bidder, their identities falsified, and placed in a lifelong, imposed witness protection program for which there is no legal recourse. Then told by church officials, agency and government functionaries that they have no right to know who they are, to do genealogy or learn about important family medical history, or know the identity of or associate with blood relatives. This is how the Judeo-Christian society has interpreted “caring for orphans”, for it’s own selfish interests and greed. Starting with Georgia Tann, the woman charged with kidnapping and selling 5,000 children, most of whom were given to the rich and powerful who then colluded with her to “seal” adoptions and cover their nefarious activities (see, for example, Gov. Herbert Lehman, NY, 1935).

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